Confederation to Constitution
• 1776: 2nd Continental Congress declares independence; PA
creates democratic state constitution
• 1781 : Articles of Confederation ratified by the states
• 1783: Treaty of Paris
• 1785: Land Ordinance organizes western territory
• 1786: Shay’s Rebellion
• 1787: Northwest Ordinance; Constitutional Convention
• 1789: Constitution goes into effect; Judiciary Act
establishes a federal court system
• 1790: Rhode Island (last of the 13) ratifies
• 1791: Bill of Rights ratified; Congress Charters First Bank of
the U.S.
National Period – Our Country Grows
• 1793: Proclamation of Neutrality; begin two party
system between Federalists and Republicans
• 1794: Whiskey Rebellion
• 1798: Alien, Sedition & Naturalization Acts; Virginia
and Kentucky Resolutions
• 1800: Jefferson elected – “Revolution of 1800”
• 1801: John Marshall appointed to Supreme Court
by Adams
• 1803: Louisiana Purchase; Marbury v. Madison
• 1804-1806: Lewis & Clark explore the west
• 1807: Embargo Act
• 1810: Fletcher v Peck
National Period – Our Country Grows
• 1812: War of 1812
• 1814: Treaty of Ghent (ends war)
• 1819: Dartmouth College v Woodward; McCulloch v
Maryland
• 1820: Missouri Compromise
• 1823: Monroe Doctrine
• 1824: Gibbons v Ogden
• 1828: Tariff of Abominations
• 1832: Bank War; election of Andrew Jackson
• 1834: Whig party forms (two-party American
politics returns)
Key Supreme Court Rulings for a New
Government
• 1803: Marbury v Madison asserts principle of
Judicial Review
• 1810: Fletcher v Peck protects property rights
through a broad reading of Constitution’s contract
clause
• 1819: Dartmouth College v Woodward safeguards
property rights, especially of chartered corporations
• 1819: McCulloch v Maryland interprets Constitution
to give broad powers to the national government
• 1824: Gibbons v Ogden gives national government
jurisdiction over interstate commerce
John Marshall: the last powerful
Federalist?
• Supported the Necessary and Proper Clause
and the supremacy Clause of the U.S.
Constitution
• If the goal is “legitimate [and] within the
scope of the Constitution, [then] all means
which are appropriate” to secure that goal are
also Constitutional.
• the “power to tax involves the power to
destroy”